The Switch 2 may be Nintendo’s modern iteration of its gaming hardware, but a handheld is still a handheld. No matter what, a mobile design will lead to tradeoffs. You can’t expect PlayStation 5 performance from a handheld, at least not one as light as the Switch 2 and for $450. Games running well on Nintendo’s Switch 2 have less to do with its hardware and more to do with how developers make games to fit Nintendo’s unique design.
Last week’s Gamescom conference was mobbed by players hoping to take a few upcoming Switch 2 ports for a spin. First on the list for many was Elden Ring, and it didn’t take long for the port to drive users mad. Numerous gamers started flooding social feeds with news that the game did not run well on Switch 2 in handheld mode. Nintendo Life and IGN, which had hands-on with the game, further fueled the cinders with claims of sub-30 frame rates in Elden Ring’s open areas. Nintendo and developers FromSoftware did not allow anybody to take footage of the game being played.
Don’t worry, cause videos eventually leak through Nintendo’s castle walls. YouTuber MDee14 broadcasted Elden Ring played on the Switch 2 in docked mode from Fan Expo Canada. The game seemed to perform slightly better with the added fans of the Switch 2 dock, though it’s difficult to parse frame rate from a video of a screen. Finally, on Sunday, a separate YouTuber dropped gameplay of Elden Ring in handheld mode, saying the frame rate was “awful,” though it’s nearly impossible to judge merely through video.
The clamor only grew more with reports that the Switch 2 version of Borderlands 4 was supposedly running poorly. All players’ anxieties stem from a single tweet by user EpicNNG on X. The player posted a video, explaining they weren’t allowed to show off gameplay footage from the event. EpicNNG added that it was clear the developer, Gearbox Studios, likely wasn’t presenting the latest builds of the game. That doesn’t mean there aren’t concerns the game may not be up to snuff at release on Oct. 3. We simply don’t know what the case will be until closer to release.
Players have every right to be concerned they won’t get as good an experience with their games as other consoles. However, so far most Switch 2 ports have proved playable. Other upcoming ports seem like they haven’t faced these same performance dilemmas. Digital Foundry recorded gameplay of Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade and called it “the best-looking thing I’ve seen on Switch 2.” Intergrade first hit the scene in 2021, and it seems the current version plays at least 40 fps on Nintendo’s handheld, according to people who went hands-on at Gamescom.
The current builds of Elden Ring on Steam Deck can hit around 40 fps with the settings dialed in, so it would only make sense the Switch 2 could at least achieve some level of playable frame rate. Cyberpunk 2077 on Switch 2 manages to hit frame rates between 30 and 40 fps, depending on your choice of graphics settings. Developers at CD Projekt Red specifically worked directly with Nintendo on the port. A video by Digital Foundry shows how devs managed to get better frame rates by limiting unnecessary background detail and relying on Nvidia’s DLSS upscaling. Which leads to the lingering question: if Square Enix and CD Projekt Red can craft quality handheld ports, why can’t other developers do the same?
The devil is in the details. The Switch 2’s system on a chip, or SoC, was crafted in partnership with Nvidia. That T239 chip is built with eight ARM Cortex A78C cores. The fact these are ARM cores means porting games to the Switch 2 isn’t as simple as it may seem. The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are built using AMD-made x86 chips. That is an instruction set you see on most modern Intel and AMD processors for PCs. ARM designs run on a completely separate instruction set that uses a RISC (or reduced instruction set compute) microarchitecture. These chips are specifically designed for the system type itself, which helps reduce power consumption and save on battery life.
Porting games from x86 to ARM isn’t necessarily a massive undertaking, but it shows how much of a specific platform the Switch 2 can be. Developers need to understand the Switch 2’s hardware and design for it. Nintendo has reportedly offered dev kits to teams looking to make games that emphasize the Switch 2’s most unique features. That puts even more onus on developers to work within the bounds of Nintendo’s design, likely more than any other platform.
If you could compare Switch 2 to other consoles, it has similar graphical capabilities just beyond the original PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. That still doesn’t tell the whole story. Nintendo’s device in handheld mode will have to run at lower clock speeds and TDP, or thermal design power. This keeps the device from overheating or dying too quickly. Benchmarks show the Switch 2 can meet or beat other handhelds like the Steam Deck OLED at the same TDP in handheld mode. At higher TDP, the Steam Deck may still be superior, as it should be for any device that can overclock to any degree. Developers have the tough task of making games fit Nintendo’s design, not to mention deciding how to distribute a title. Inevitably, we will find better or worse examples of ports. That is the tradeoff for being able to take your games with you wherever you go.
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